Feminism

This video made me cry.  It's the perfect song - We ARE the Champions!  The meaning behind it is priceless.

 

Here's another video (same company).  

 

Here's what a friend of mine said about the video.  

Hmmm. I really like that she is making engineering toys for girls, but really, why not just simply engineering toys? I hate that she says she is busting the stereotype, and still making these pink, and princess and girly. As a little girl I spent a lot of time constructing houses and castles out of blocks and Lincoln logs. I made furniture for my barbies with real hammers and wood and nails. My best friend and I made ourselves a little table and a couple stools out of wood scraps using my Dad's tools. I needed access to the tools, I didn't need them to be pink. Don't "pink" our girls, give them the real stuff, the same stuff you give the boys! This makes me sad.  My daughter used my tools, and her grandfathers' tools, and now she has designed and built sets for dance and theater productions. That's the real stuff!

She has a point.  And now remember that very young BOYS get plastic (not real) tools.  I gave my five children all the toys, no matter what their gender, and the girls still wanted to play house and pull dolls in a wagon, while the boys dumped it over and spun the wheels.  

I like that the "engineering toys" for girls come in attractive colors and with books, because the reasoning is sound in this society.  It may not be genetic, but social pressure, images, and other factors play into girls not being interested in engineering and having certain play practice - and here is a toy that uses research to draw girls in!  

Um, sorry, that sounded snarky, and that's not how I meant it. It's good that she is getting these toys into the hands of little girls who might not get them otherwise. I know there are Moms and Dads out there who feel like little girls must be frilly princesses. It just makes me sad that this might be the only way that some kids will get to experience the joy of creating something with their imagination, solving the puzzle of how to achieve it using only the materials at hand.

And now think about all those parents (and kids) who don't expose girls to and "real" tools.  Then view the video above again, and look for tools.